Imugene raises $3M from option plan to advance immunotherapy studies

Imugene (ASX:IMU) has raised circa $3 million as part of an option plan which expired on 31 March 2017, at a price of $0.015 per share.

The new capital places Imugene in a solid position to continue the development of its clinical candidate, HER-Vaxx.

HER-Vaxx is a cancer immunotherapy designed to treat HER-2 positive gastric cancer, a cancer with increased levels of a growth-promoting protein called the HER-2 receptor.

Immuno-oncology is a relatively new but highly promising field that uses the method of activating a patient's immune system against tumour growth.

Imugene’s three prominent existing shareholders, Private Portfolio Managers, Platinum Asset Management and Celtic Capital, have increased their investment in Imugene via their roles as underwriters to the plan.

In January 2016, Imugene announced a new partnership with the Medical University of Vienna to discover and develop mimotope-based immunotherapies against validated and new oncology targets.

This partnership has the potential to create B Cell peptide vaccines that would replace or augment conventional monoclonal antibodies.

Importantly, Imugene filed four new patent applications with IP Australia in December 2016 related to mimotope B-cell vaccine compositions.

The company’s share price increased circa 78% during the past six months, last trading at $0.016.